In recent weeks, the highly touted visit
was criticized by some Egyptian media, mainly by those who complained that Pope
Benedict XVI had not clearly apologized for having offended Islam and the
Prophet Muhammad in his speech in Regensburg, Germany, last September.

Cardinal to Obey
Benedict’s Request to Stay

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong
(l) said he will obey Pope Benedict’s request that he not retire so he can
continue to participate in the mission of the Church in Asia, Agence France
Presse reported.

Cardinal Zen, who has already reached the
retirement age for diocesan bishops at 75, said he has been informed by the
Vatican that he should stay on as Hong Kong bishop despite his repeated request
to be relieved from duty.

“Obedience is fundamental duty grounded in our sacramental
ordination,” the cardinal said. “I look up to the example of St. Joseph and
submit myself to the will of God.”

Papal Warning Aimed at Liberation Theology’s Adherents

La
Chiesa columnist Sandro Magister said that the Vatican’s criticism of
liberation theologian Father Jon Sobrino was meant as a warning to the bishops,
priests and laypeople of Latin America.

Distorting
the truth of Jesus — as occurs, in the judgment of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, in the books Jesuit Father Sobrino, major author on Christology
in Latin America — is the same as distorting the truth of the Church, the
meaning of its mission in the world.

This is precisely what’s
said in the title Benedict XVI has given to the general assembly scheduled next
month at the Aparecida in Brazil: “Disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ,
that our people may have life in him,” together with these words of Jesus in
the Gospel of John: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”